His Girl
by stephluvvsyou
Summary: He was not the best rememdy for a broken heart. But she needed him to be. Zack/London ONESHOT.


**AN : Hey everyone! I haven't written anything for a long time, due to not having any time. But I've recently adopted a new ship, and that is Zack and London from The Suite Life On Deck. I didn't necessarily write this piece as romantic, but I had the inspiration to do this, so here's the result. There are NOT nearly enough Zack/London fics out there. I've read all that's available and it's still not enough. I'd love to see more, and hopefully will as time goes on. I apologize for both London and Zack being OOC at certain times, because, well, this is my first time writing them. It's my first time writing The Suite Life in general. But hopefully you guys enjoy it anyway, and please let me know what you think! I'd love some feedback!**

_Disclaimer : I do not own The Suite Life On Deck/Of Zack and Cody or any of the characters associated. All rights reserved to Disney._

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His Girl

Zack sighed as he walked down the girl's corridor on the ship. He had been boggling his mind all day over his current situation. Where to take her. What to say. What he could possibly do to make her feel better. I mean, she _was_ his best friend after all. And it wasn't like he didn't want to be there for her. But he wasn't exactly the greatest comfort for a broken heart.

'Just spend the day with her. Get her mind off of things.' Bailey had complained.

'Just be yourself. It's your job to be there for her.' Cody had whined.

Sure. Easy for them to say. They weren't the ones getting ready to deal with the very emotional heiress. Everyone who was anyone knew that a heartbroken London was impossible to please. Shoot. A happy London was hard enough to please. But times like these were rare. She didn't date often. And when she did, she was usually the one who did the dumping. Not the other way around.

He straightened the collar of his shirt as he stopped outside the cabin door. It wasn't that he was nervous. He was just afraid he would fail at his duty. He'd gone over a 'plan' with Cody a thousand times, but of course, everything his twin had said to him didn't make a bit of sense.

He heard soft sobs coming from the inside of the cabin. Damn. He couldn't stand it when she cried. He lifted his hand to knock, but paused once again to clear his head of the thoughts cluttering it.

'All right Zack.' he mumbled. 'Get your game face on.'

So maybe he didn't know how to comfort people. But that didn't mean he couldn't try. She was worth it.

He let his clenched hand lightly fall against the door a couple times.

"Go away!" came the agonized voice from the inside.

Zack sighed, and stepped closer to the door, "London. It's me."

There was a pause in conversation. He heard her sob a couple more times, before the creaking sound of her getting off the bed. Footsteps that grew closer.

Hopefully he'd be able to handle seeing her tear streaked face without losing his cool.

The door flew open.

Nope. This day was really going to suck. Upon seeing her standing there, eyes puffy, face red, body racking with sobs, he realized that what he'd agreed to do hadn't been a very smart decision on his part. He immediately felt furious with the sorry son of a bitch that had broken her heart, and would probably stop at nothing in the coming weeks on finding a way, by any means necessary, to track him down, and beat the living daylights out of him.

"What do you want?" London asked, her hand on the door, looking like she wanted to do nothing more than to slam it in his face.

Zack wrung his hands together nervously, as he looked away from her heartbroken face. He couldn't do this. No way he could do this. "I uh..."

He realized that he was really being ridiculous, but he couldn't help but think that Cody would have been so much better suited for this job. Cody and London were good friends too. They just didn't spend as much time together. Besides, he was the sensitive one. He was great with feelings, and emotions, and all the other mumbo jumbo that went with the territory.

Zack forced himself to look back towards her, as she was waiting expectantly for a reply. There was her tear-streaked face again. Of all the times Zack had screwed himself over in certain situations, he couldn't help but think that this one took the cake.

"You know London." he began again, trying not to lose his train of thought. 'Comfort.' he thought, 'Be a good best friend.' His eyes snapped towards her, "You are looking good today." a smirk popped out and a finger pointed towards her.

And before he knew it, the door was slammed in his face.

He slapped his palm to his face. "Man that was stupid." he told himself. London was not in the mood to be hit on. And while comments like that would normally due the trick, he had to remember that this was real heartbreak. She was probably thinking that men were stupid, loathsome, horrible creatures. And now one had shown up, one that she normally respected no doubt, and tried to flatter her while she was in the midst of a crying, emotional breakdown? Yeah. Wonderful idea.

If Cody were here, he'd be getting royally reamed right now.

Zack reached up and knocked on the door again. "London, I'm sorry." he called through the door, "I...really didn't mean to say that."

In all truth, he really hadn't. It was his normal routine to swoop in and rescue freshly dumped, heartbroken girls from their low self-esteems. It was so normal in fact, that he always did it without really realizing it. But he needed to remember that this was London. Not another date to pursue. Not another prey to hunt. He loved this girl dearly. And to think that sometimes he viewed and treated her like any of the 'others' just because she was a pretty face made him want to put his own picture up on the wall and throw darts at it.

He definitely deserved it.

His thoughts came to a halt when he heard her start sobbing loudly again. He figured she probably wasn't going to open the door for him again, so he decided to reach up and turn the knob himself. He peeked his head through the crack he'd created.

Mountains of used tissues were piled up on Bailey's bed. Random, stray tissues littered the floor area as well. The trashcan was filled to the brim with them. Damn. Bailey had been right. London really had been sitting in the cabin crying all morning. Zack felt furious again for a brief moment. The jerk that had done this to her could be his concern later. Right now he really had to try and comfort London.

So maybe he really had no faith in himself that he was going to be able to do any good at all, but that didn't matter at this point. He had to do the best he could anyway. He inched through the doorway and quietly shut the door behind him. Now came the question of where he should sit. There was the desk chair, but it seemed a little too far away from her. There was Bailey's bed, but it was currently occupied with the Mount Everest of tissues. He was a little afraid to sit directly beside her, but that was probably going to be the best choice.

He slowly shuffled that way, kicking random tissues around as he walked. Some he was just squashing under his shoe. Kind of like what he wanted to do to the guy who did this to her. But once again, he was going to have to set those dreams and aspirations aside for now. He was standing in front of her now, glancing down at her. Her knees were scrunched up to her chest. Her face was buried in her hands. Her body was shaking. She was going to make herself sick from all this crying.

He sat down beside her and without really thinking, extended an arm around her shoulders. Once he had a hold of her, he pulled her small body to his, and leaned into her. He waited for a second to see if she was going to pull away, but she remained stiff in his arm. All right. Well. It was a start.

He couldn't believe how completely nervous he was acting with her. It was London. He was more familiar with her and how to deal with her than anyone else on this ship. He'd just never seen her this way before. It was freaking him out. He knew he had to be the strong one here, but it really bothered him that she'd been crying so hard, so much. She'd completely been unwound by this asshole.

He searched his head for reminders of any other times he'd snapped London out of a mood. He'd done it before, but never had it been this intense. It was usually over something like her allowance arriving late, or her not being able to find any good shops at a town they'd dock at. She'd even get sad once in a while over how 'hideously' a person on the ship would be dressed. And he'd never forget the time she actually cried because he'd had to throw some of her shoes away out of the sub because it was the only way to save their lives. It was easy to detour her moods away at times like those. This was different. Just how far could he test the waters here?

"I don't know what I did wrong." London mumbled from under her arms.

Zack's eyes popped out a little bit. Surely she didn't blame herself for this breakup? It wasn't her fault that the douche had supposedly fallen for his fencing instructor.

His friendly instinct began to wake up a little bit. He patted her arm a little bit from where his hand was gripping it, keeping her close to him. "You didn't do anything wrong London. You couldn't have known that jerk's feelings, because he decided to hide them from you."

London's sobs seemed to minimize for a moment, as she processed what he'd said. But before Zack knew it, she was crying almost hysterically. Tears were pouring down her face, and she was actually being rather loud. She lifted her head from her arms and buried it into Zack's shoulder. Her hands wrapped around his midsection in a clingy squeeze. She was almost holding on like she didn't want to lose him.

In the meantime, Zack had seized up slightly. He was willing to let her cry all over him if that's what was going to make her feel better. But what if that wasn't enough? Should he continue to let his arm rest on her shoulder? Should he be hugging her tighter? Should he be running his fingers through her hair? He'd never had to do any of this for London before. However, once again, circumstances were very different this time.

He'd decided to leave his arm around her shoulder. What he wanted to really do was pick her up in his arms, and carry her away to some remote location where she could forget about what's-his-name altogether. A place where no one would ever be able to hurt her like this again. He wanted to take her heartbreak away.

He pulled her closer to him, which he didn't think was possible since they were seemingly already molded together. But there was still a little bit of a gap to close. His other arm flew around her as he hugged her tightly to him. He rested his head on top of hers.

"It's okay London." Zack said, as he began to slowly rock her. His hand reached up and rested on the back of her head. His eyes closed. "It's okay."

He couldn't really figure out what had caused him to do these things all of a sudden. But watching her cry…just spending these mere moments with her had caused him to start hurting too. His heart felt broken just because he knew hers was. He hated it.

And still this entire situation was so uncomfortable for him. He wished she could just forget the guy. And he wished that telling her she looked good earlier would have been the simple fix like always. Then maybe he would be on the Sky Deck right now making her a smoothie and watching her smile. And of course pining for Maya in the process. Stupid 6-month plan.

The point was, if this is what came in his job description as 'best friend', he really didn't know if he wanted this role anymore. It was too much. It wasn't in his genetic makeup to be able to remedy the broken heart. Especially London's. I mean, all he'd had to do was see her face earlier and he felt like running away.

He could always abort and get Cody down here instead. He'd never hear the end of it, but maybe he should try. He unwrapped one of his arms from London, but tried not to disturb the emotional girl too much as he leaned back a little.

"Uh, London. I need to uh…" Zack began, not quite knowing what kind of excuse to give to her, "Go check on Cody real quick." He continued, as he scratched the back of his head. "He lost his sanitizer earlier. And you know how cranky he gets without that!"

London's grip released from Zack as he mentally slapped himself. He couldn't believe how much of a wimp he was being right now. Back at the Tipton hotel, he used to be able to console Maddie when she was upset. Since he'd left though, he and London had gotten closer than he and Maddie had ever been. It should be easier. But it wasn't.

London glanced up at him, "You better go find it for him." She told, glancing through watery vision, "Even I know that's an emergency." She held a hand up as if she didn't even want to reminisce about the last time Cody had lost the sanitizer. He'd sucked everyone into his misery, and finally London had taken enough and just started paying random people to help find it.

Her teary eyed expression once again killed Zack a little bit on the inside as he stood up from the bed and backed away from her. "I'll be back." He wasted no time running out of the room. He wanted to get as far away from this situation as possible. He closed the door to the cabin behind him and took a gigantic breath.

"God help me." He told himself as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He sent a quick text, and within moments of sending it, Cody had arrived.

"What's the emergency?" Cody exclaimed, as he bent over and placed his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. He'd obviously run the whole way there.

"Shh!" Zack snapped as he waved his hands out in front of him and shot him a glare. "Do you want the entire ship to hear you say that?"

Cody glared back. Zack had texted Cody that there was emergency, and he was getting the feeling already that there was no real emergency here. "What do you want Zack?"

Zack's expression softened as his thoughts once again surrounded the upset girl in the cabin behind him. "Look, it's about London."

Cody folded his arms over his chest, just dying to hear the explanation this time. He had spent over an hour with Zack giving him advice on how to make London feel better. But apparently as usual, everything he'd said had gone in one ear and out the other.

Loud sobs emitted through the cabin door. Zack pointed a thumb over his shoulder, "Do you hear that? I can't handle that."

"What do you mean, you can't handle that?" Cody asked, not quite understanding why Zack suddenly seemed to have no backbone. "She's crying."

"Thank you Captain Obvious." Zack remarked sarcastically. "I can't help her when she's crying like that."

"Why?" Cody questioned, shrugging his shoulders slightly as well.

"Because it upsets me to see her that way!" Zack replied, as he turned away from his brother and started pacing slightly, "I mean, she's really hurt."

"Well, yeah, we both know she really liked that guy." Cody told, "So her crying and being upset is normal." He threw his arms in the air slightly, "I mean, what do you want her to do? Jump for joy?"

"No." Zack replied darkly, "I just want her to stop crying so that I can think straight." He paused for a moment, "And maybe actually look at her."

Cody shook his head slightly as Zack continued to pace, and a couple seconds of silence passed between them. Cody was racking his brain, trying to think of some more good advice he could attempt to give Zack on this.

"Hey, what was that guy's name again?" Zack asked casually, and out of the blue.

Cody glanced over at him, and he'd stopped pacing. He was looking at him expectantly as he awaited the answer to the question. "I think it was Roman."

"Ohhh yeah. That's right." Zack replied, pacing again, folding his arms over his chest.

Cody could see the wheels in his head turning and he narrowed his eyes, "Why?"

'Because I want to kill him.' Zack thought, but decided to reply with, "I was just curious. For some reason I couldn't remember."

Cody sighed, "Whatever." He glanced at the ground for a moment before picking his head back up, "Look, Zack. I know you've consoled London before about things. So why can't you just go in there and-"

Zack stopped pacing and pointed a finger at Cody, cutting him off, "Those times were all different. She wasn't broken hearted over a guy. She was upset over stuff that didn't matter," Zack paused then directed his finger towards the cabin door, "And she definitely was not crying like that."

Cody registered Zack's words into his thought process as he continued to vent.

"I mean, I don't even know what to think." Zack continued, "I don't know how to comfort someone whose really hurt like that. Usually when a girl is upset over something I just go hit on them and my charm cures them."

Cody rolled his eyes. Unfortunately what Zack was saying was true. That method really did work. He'd witnessed it a couple times himself. He sighed and reached a hand up, placing it on his confused brother's shoulder to stop him from pacing. "Alright Zack." He paused, and glanced up at him, "You care about London, right?"

Zack was surprised at this question. It was stupid. "Of course I care about her, she's my best friend."

"Alright then. Stop thinking about ways you can make it better, and just go in there and be with her." Cody explained, "I mean, if you want to go in there and hug her just do it. If there's something you want to say to her just say it."

Zack sighed, and folded his arms as he shifted his weight. "Easier said than done bro. It's not in my nature to deal with things like this."

"It has to be." Cody replied, "She needs you."

"Well I'm not the only friend she has, why can't you go in there?" Zack once again flung his arm towards the door.

He wanted Cody to save him from this problem, but it didn't look like he was going to this time.

"I already played my part in this." Cody told, as he gave Zack a half smile. "I spent 2 hours with her last night." He informed as his hand left Zack's shoulder and he stood up straight again. "She got what she needed from me."

Zack huffed in response, and Cody took a couple of steps away from the door and Zack.

Zack's eyes popped out a little and he looked to be panicking already, "Wait, where are you going?"

"I've got my own girl to take care of." Cody replied, "Now you take care of yours."

Zack face faulted as he threw his hands up, "She's not my girl."

"Isn't she?" Cody asked in response as he shot Zack a smile before walking away.

Zack watched him go and sighed again. What the hell did that mean? I mean, sure, he considered London as the closest female friend he'd ever had, but, not necessarily 'his'. Or did he? In a way he supposed he did consider her 'his'. But not like…_'his'_.

Damnit. Cody and his stupid statements. He never knew what to make of them. He huffed a few more times, trying to pull his thoughts together as he turned around to face her door again. He swung his hands back and forth, trying to extinguish any left over nerves he had over the matter. He reached for the doorknob again.

"Don't think it Zack," he told himself, "Just do it."

He entered the room again. Everything was still as it'd been before. She was still sitting on her bed. Face buried in her arms. Still crying. He sure was tired of seeing her crying.

The London he knew didn't let people beat her down like this. Even when they gossiped about her, she'd always just let it roll off her shoulders. She claimed they were just 'jealous of her money and beauty'. This had to stop. And if he had to be the person to pull her out of this darkness? He was going to do it if it killed him.

"Alright." Zack said as he walked over to her bedside. He reached down and took her hand. In one, fluid motion he yanked her out of her ball and up into his strong arms. "Come here."

London gasped at the suddenness of it all. He wrapped his arms around her in a fierce hug and he buried his face in her shoulder. "London." He murmured. "You are so much better than all of this."

London's eyes opened up as she let her head gently rest on his chest.

"This guy made the biggest mistake of his life letting you go." Zack continued, "Because he never got to know the greatest side of you." He sighed as he pulled his face from her shoulder and faced the back wall, still crushing her in his arms. "And I feel sorry for him."

Zack took a deep breath. He didn't know if what he was saying was going to make her feel any better, but he felt he needed to say it. "You are an amazing person." He started, but decided to rephrase it, "No, you're beyond amazing. You're the best person in my world. And if he didn't realize what he had with you was something you don't just throw away, then he doesn't deserve to be with you anyway."

London blinked a few times. Her sobs had been reduced down and her shakes had stopped for the most part.

"I'm sorry he did this to you." Zack told, "Boyfriends will come and go. But you've always got me."

When she continued to not respond, Zack pulled out of the hug and placed his hands on her shoulders. Her head was faced to the floor, so he gently reached out and lifted it with his hand so he could look her in the eyes. "Always." He whispered.

His hand remained on her chin until he was certain what he'd been saying had registered in her. He could always read her expressions through her eyes. It was a quality he'd mastered long ago. He was sure she understood. "And look, I may not be any good at this." Zack released her and threw his hands up as he took a couple steps back. "But I promise you I'll get better."

London glanced down towards the floor again. Zack watched her from where he stood. He realized now what it all meant to just be the best friend he could be to her. It wasn't about what he said, or promised. It was about what he had the power to do, to make her feel better again. It was what he had signed up for whenever they crossed that border from just 'friend' to 'best of friends'. And maybe he was stuck with a job that wasn't always going to be pleasant. But he'd take it. He'd rather it be his arms she ran to when she was heartbroken, than Cody or Bailey's. After all, she was 'his' girl.

He loved this girl a lot. Unconditionally. The things that everyone else found annoying about her? The things they labeled her as? Shallow. Ditzy. Clumsy. Dumb. Airhead. Whatever. Those were all just a few of the many reasons why he loved her.

When London looked back up towards him, she had a smile on her face. "Well. I think you did fine."

That smile was priceless. Zack couldn't help but mirror her and smile as well. She wiped some stray tears off of her face and took a deep breath, finally extinguishing her sobs completely.

Zack knew that it would be a few days still before London got back to normal. He knew that her pain wasn't going to go away over night. But this was a start. He was responsible for the smile on her face right now. And it was a feeling like no other.

He extended his hand towards her, "Come on." He tilted his head towards the door.

"Where are we going?" London asked, her expression turning curious.

"We," Zack paused, as he walked up to her and grabbed her hand in his. "Are going to have a smoothie. On me." He started, as he began to pull her along with him towards the door. "And then when we dock tonight, we're going to go out and celebrate."

"Celebrate what?" London asked cluelessley, as Zack opened the door up.

He turned towards her, "You." He told simply, another smile coming to his face, "Because even though I take advantage of your bribes, and the fact that you're nice arm candy when I'm trying to make another girl jealous, and you're easy to persuade because you never quite think things through the way you should…"

London nodded along. Yeah. That was all pretty much true.

"You're still the best friend ever." Zack finished.

London laughed slightly. She felt herself slowly falling away from the dark hole she'd been in a few moments ago. She looked up at Zack, and shrugged. "Yay me?"

Zack nodded in reply. "Yay you."

He pulled her out the door, and the two of them walked hand in hand down the corridor and towards the deck. "Oooh wait!" London's voice radiated over all the other noise. "I need to fix my makeup!"

Zack sighed, "You look fine London."

"But what about my outfit?"

"Again. It's fine."

"My shoes!"

"London!"

**X**

Later that night, Zack was in his cabin after having a pretty fun time out with London. They'd talked so much. On the outside, no one would have ever guessed the girl had so many feelings. But then again, not a lot of people were privileged enough to know London Tipton as well as he did.

There was a knock on his door. When he let Cody in, of course he wanted to know how things had gone with London.

"I think she had a good time." Zack told, after he'd filled Cody in on most of the details. "Now I've got to deal with this Roman."

"When you say 'deal' with him, what exactly are you implying?" Cody asked.

"I don't know. It'll come to me whenever I see him I'm sure." Zack told, a smirk on his face as he turned away from his brother and walked towards his bed.

Cody followed him a couple of steps into the room and watched as he picked up a handful of darts from the bed. He aimed at a spot on the wall and started throwing them towards it.

"Is that…" Cody paused as he took a closer look. "A picture of you?"

"Yeah." Zack answered in an almost exasperated manner. He glanced at the picture of himself and shook his head. Confusion swept over Cody's face, but Zack held up a hand to stop him from saying anything, "Just trust me. I deserve it."

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**AN : Okay, so once again, sorry for any OOC moments, but I thank you for reading. And feedback is greatly appreciated!**


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